girl in greenwood

Pompeii: A Novel
by Robert Harris

This book was really cool! It's a fictionalized account of the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius that buried the city of Pompeii. The main character is an engineer (aquarius) in charge of an aquaduct that splits off from the main water line in Pompeii. When the water stops running in a town downstream from Pompeii, the aquarius has to find the source of the blockage and repair it. The blockage is caused by the earth swelling and buckling in preparation for an eruption...

There are a couple of characters based on real people, also, such as Pliny the Elder. He is drawn as an old man with an insatiable appetite for food, wine, and knowledge. I don't know if Pliny really died in the Vesuvius eruption, but in the book he dies watching it happen.

While I'm sure I would also be interested in reading a nonfiction book about Pompeii and the artifacts discovered in the modern archaelogical exploration of it, this book made the eruption and its aftermath come to life in startling detail. I recommend it.

Labels: book reports